When you think of “Barbie” this year, Margot Robbie will probably come to mind first, followed by Ryan Gosling. However, Michael Cera’s role should also provide many of the laughs in the cinema hall. Cera plays Allan in the hit movie. Only hardcore Barbie fans may have known in advance who Allan is in “Barbieland”. Most of them probably sat in the cinema seats, clueless.
The Allan doll was first sold in 1964 as the best friend of Barbie’s friend Ken. He came up with a hint that even Ken’s clothes would fit him. Ruth Handler, inventor of the doll world, named it after her son-in-law. However, Allan’s grand entrance into the Barbie world didn’t last long. Production stopped in 1964 and only sporadically resumed in the decades that followed. That’s why he only appears once in Greta Gerwig’s cinema adaptation.
Allan made a brief comeback in the ’90s. He married his girlfriend, Midge, who would be a more natural antagonist to Barbie. Freckles, little make-up – with her appearance, Midge should also appeal to critics of Barbie’s plastic look. “Midge wasn’t the dream girl. Barbie was the dream girl. Midge was the ugly sidekick who might have made a mistake,” explains M.G. Lord, author of Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll, speaks to BuzzFeed.
But Midge’s backstory is controversial. According to the original Barbie stories, Midge became pregnant by Allan in the 1990s. The plastic belly was attached to the doll with a magnet so that it was removable. “Midge and Baby” was sold in Mattel’s “Happy Family” set at the time, much to the chagrin of more conservative Barbie fans, who boycotted the depiction of a pregnant doll being played with by young children. The set was discontinued in the early 2000s.
In the “Barbie” film by Greta Gerwig, Midge appears alongside many Barbies and Kens. She is played by Emerald Fennell. The fact that she was taken out of the range because her pregnancy upset conservative US customers in particular is also discussed in the film.
Among the many Kens with their testosterone and flaunted manhood, Cera stands out as Allan. When Gosling and his Ken pals try to win them over in the movie Barbieland, he wants to leave the pink world as soon as possible. However, the relationship with Midge is not further discussed in Gerwig’s film.
Those: “Buzzfeed”
